Small fire injures three at LaGuardia airport

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three police officers were treated for minor injuries after a small fire broke out at LaGuardia airport on Sunday, prompting a terminal to be briefly evacuated.

An electrical fire broke out around 5 p.m. under the conveyor belt of a Transportation Security Administration screening machine at the security checkpoint in Terminal 1, which houses Delta Airlines, according to Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.

"Because of the smoke that was created from the screening machine, passengers were evacuated," Coleman said.

Three port authority police officers were treated for smoke inhalation, but their injuries did not appear to be serious, Coleman said.

Passengers were allowed to return to the terminal roughly an hour later, he said.

The incident was the second terminal-wide evacuation at a New York City airport over the weekend. On Saturday, hundreds of passengers were forced to evacuate a terminal at JFK airport after police discovered a TSA employee had left a metal detector at the security checkpoint unplugged.